Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Germaine said, “What’s the address?”
After several back-and-forth conversations, the man left with an officer on his tail to follow him home, and Germaine said, “I’m not comfortable with you doing that by yourself. Have you had an officer with you every time that you’ve talked with someone?”
I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not quite sure who was with me all day. There were a lot of names.”
“I’ll work and coordinate with my wife to make sure that you’re safe at all times,” he said. “Garrett’s outside waiting for you. How about I take you out there, then run back in and get Rooster for you.”
I smiled. “That sounds fantastic. To be quite honest, I’m not used to twelve-hour shifts myself.”
“Love how it went from eight to twelve.” He chuckled. “Come on. I’ll take you to Garrett.”
Ten minutes later, I was in the seat with Garrett next to me. “There’s going to be enough room for Rooster back there?”
“Rufus is in the very back.” He paused. “Drugged up. The medication they tried to give him wasn’t strong enough, when they got him close to the car, he freaked.”
My heart literally ached. “Then let’s get him home as fast as we can.”
“Home,” Garrett said. “I like the sound of that.”
My heart melted.
“This place is a mess,” he admitted. “Can you give me like two minutes to pick up all my shit on the floor?”
I heard him step farther into the room, but not far.
He had Rufus in his arms and had stopped somewhere close.
“Between Boss’s toys and my shoes and dirty clothes…” He trailed off. “Fuck, he’s heavier than he looks. I put him on the couch. If you walk directly straight, you’ll be at the couch.”
I followed directions, and he said, “Arm’s right there.”
I reached down and found the arm of the couch.
“It’s an L sectional,” he said.
I followed the sectional with my hand until I found the dog.
I sat down at his head and started petting him.
I heard Garrett moving around behind me, then nothing.
A sliding door opened and closed, then two panting dogs came rushing into the house and the slurping sound of water sounded.
I had to smile at that, talking to Rufus as I said, “You’ll get along just fine with Rooster, won’t you?”
It took Rufus an hour to start waking up, and the vet was right, despite being awake he was very lethargic and subdued.
We left him there to orient himself and explore when he wanted, and Garrett showed me the rest of the house.
“It’s an open floor plan,” he explained. “You have the main kitchen connected to the living room and the dining room,” he took me through each room. “Here’s the fridge. This is the pantry where I keep the dog food, too. This is the microwave and the oven.”
The tour led me to the bedroom about ten minutes later, and I sat down on the bed and fell backward, arms up high over my head. “This is the best bed I’ve ever slept on.”
“You’re not sleeping,” he pointed out.
“Give it time.”
He chuckled. “If you wanted to, you could.”
I went up onto my elbows and said, “I might have taken you up on that if I had clothes. I might or might not have forgotten my bag.”
He was silent for a long second before he said, “My sister’s about your size. She keeps some clothes here for when she swims and wants to change.”
I thought about it for all of two seconds before I said, “Then I’d like to stay over.”
He moved then, coming toward me on near-silent feet.
I waited to see what he’d do, and he didn’t disappoint.
I felt the bed dip on either side of me and felt my heart start to hammer.
He straddled my lap with his knees, his butt now resting on my lap.
His hands came down next on either side of my head, and my heart went from a nice normal resting heart rate to one that might concern medical professionals.
“Hey, Bindi?” he asked.
He was right there.
I could just lean up and…
I kissed him.
Hands threading behind his neck, I pulled him down to me and kissed him.
He took the kiss over after that, his mouth devouring mine.
It was the single most sexiest kiss I’d ever had.
Carnal.
Powerful.
Life changing.
He pulled back when my fingernails dug into his scalp.
“Bindi?” he asked again, breathless.
“Yeah?” I asked, my fingers tightening to pull him down to me once again.
“I was going to ask you if I could kiss you.” He laughed. “But now I want to ask you if you want this to go where I think this is going. Do you want me to go slow?”
I scoffed. “Gee, I think we’re beyond slow at this point, don’t you? If you wanted to strip me right here and now, I would put up zero fight. In fact…”
I let go of his hair and reached for the hem of my shirt.